Monday, March 18, 2013

Vatican City
If the plans for his inaugural Mass -- expected to attract 1
million people to St. Peter's Square on Tuesday -- are any indication,
it seems Pope Francis is setting three key themes for the event:
simplicity, ecumenism and mercy.
In what may also be signposts into the pope's wider focus, the
Vatican announced Monday that the events surrounding the Mass will see:

Combined prayer between the pontiff and representatives of the Eastern Rite churches at the tomb of St. Peter;

Proclamation of the Gospel being made in Greek, "in order to simplify the liturgy";

The pope wearing a simple new ring of office, a gold-plated silver
band, recycled from one owned by Pope Paul VI's private secretary; and

Adoption of the Latin phrase Miserando atque eligendo as the pope's motto, a reflection on Christ's mercy in choosing Matthew, who was a tax collector, as an apostle.

The Mass, officially known as "the solemn Mass of the beginning
of the Petrine ministry," is to start at 9:30 a.m. Rome time Tuesday.
Vatican and Roman officials are preparing for enormous crowds, with some
estimating the number could reach well over the 1 million mark.
Official estimates for the pope's first Angelus blessing, held at noon Sunday, put the number there at about 300,000.
Representatives of governments from around the world are expected to
attend Tuesday. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Rome on Sunday
night for the event.
News of the pope's plans for the event came Monday at a Vatican press conference.
The pope is to pray with the Eastern Rite church leaders before the
Mass begins at the crypt of St. Peter, where the apostle is thought to
be buried and upon which St. Peter's Basilica is built.
Included in the group will be the ecumenical patriarch of
Constantinople, Bartholomew I, the first of his line to attend a papal
inauguration since the year 1054, when the Eastern and Western churches
split.
Following the prayer, the official ceremony will get under way with
the pope receiving both his ring -- known as the fisherman's ring, as
Peter was a fisherman before an apostle -- and his pallium, a woolen
liturgical vestment signifying unity with the world's archbishops and
the pope's role as shepherd of the universal church.

The pope will be using the same pallium as his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican spokesmen said Monday.
The ring he will wear is from a ring worn by Pope Paul VI's private
secretary, Archbishop Pasquale Macchi, the spokesmen said. Unlike
Benedict's ring, which was made of gold, Francis' will be made of
gold-plated silver.

A picture of the ring provided by the Vatican shows a small face with
a relief image of a bearded St. Peter holding the symbolic keys to
heaven.
Clarifying the ring's lineage, the Vatican issued a press release
late Monday afternoon saying that the ring "was in the possession of
Archbishop Macchi, Pope Paul VI's personal secretary" and then had been
owned by another priest before being proposed as a papal ring to Francis
by Cardinal Battista Re, a former prefect of the Vatican's Congregation
for bishops.

The pope has also approved his official coat of arms, using the same
heraldry he used while he was bishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the
Vatican said Monday.
The coat of arms features a blue background with three symbols
focused on the Holy Family: the official seal of the Jesuits, which
spells out IHS, the first three letters of Jesus' name in Greek; an
image of a spikenard flower, traditionally a symbol of Joseph; and a
five-pointed star, a symbol of Mary.
The pope's motto, which he also used in Argentina, is taken from a homily of St. Bede, an eighth-century English monk.
Translated literally, it means, "because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him."
"Jesus saw Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more
significantly with his merciful understanding of men," St. Bede wrote in
the homily the motto references.
Tuesday's inaugural Mass is being held on the feast day of St.
Joseph. The pope has decided to use the normal readings for the day
instead of special readings for the occasion, the Vatican said Monday.
The first reading will be made in English; the second in Spanish. The pope will homilize in Italian.
Although Basilian Fr. Thomas Rosica, who provides English translation
during the press conferences, said a text of the homily would be
available to journalists ahead of time, he also said, "As we have
noticed over the past few days, there is a certain spontaneity in the
pope's talks."
The first reading for the Mass will be from the Book of Samuel,
recalling the Lord speaking to the prophet Nathan, asking him to tell
David that "I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and
make his sovereignty secure."

The second reading will be from Paul's letter to the Romans,
regarding God's promise to Abraham "on account of the righteousness
which consists in faith."
The Gospel account, taken from Matthew, focuses on Joseph's
uncertainty around Mary's unexplained pregnancy. Appearing before
Joseph, according to the account, an angel tells Joseph to stay with
Mary regardless.

Among the petitions are: prayers for government officials, that they
may "help build the civilization of love"; and prayers for the poor,
that God will "grant them refreshment, comfort, and hope, not least
through the love of their brothers and sisters."
A total of 132 delegations from around the world are expected to
attend the event, the Vatican said, including 31 heads of state and two
ruling monarchs.
Stressing that the Vatican is not controlling the guest list -- which
is reported to include controversial Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe
-- Rosica said all are welcome to attend.
"The Holy See does not invite any foreign delegation ... we inform
the world that this is taking place," Rosica said. "Those who wish to
come are welcome, no one is refused."
On Wednesday, Francis will meet with representatives of both Christian groups and those of other faiths, the Vatican said.

Stressing the tie between ecumenism, or relations between Christian
churches, and relations between other faiths, the Vatican said the pope
would be meeting with the ecumenical and interfaith leaders at the "same
moment, not two different moments."
Among those included in the meeting will be leaders of 33 Christian
churches, 16 Jewish leaders, and leaders of the Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh
and Jain communities.
Included in the Christian group will be Bartholomew I; Metropolitan
Hilarion of the Patriarchate of Moscow; a representative of the Armenian
orthodox church; an Anglican representative; and the secretary of the
World Council of Churches.

Pope Francis

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